Maltese knights. Orders of chivalry
Johnites - Hospitallers
The knightly order was founded in 1099, Jerusalem, at the hospital of Gregory the Great and the library of Charlemagne. WITH 1098 - Hospitallers of St. Lazarus at the hospital for lepers.
1. Heraldry
Colors- a black robe with a white cross, a red robe with a white cross.Hospitallers of Lazarus - a white robe with an eight-pointed green cross. The basis of the order was made up of knights who fell ill with leprosy.
Motto- Pro Fide, Pro Utility Hominum - For faith, for the benefit of people!
Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum - Protection of the Faith and help to the poor and suffering!
Motto of the Hospitallers of Lazarus: Atavis et armis - Ancestors and weapons!
Patron - St. John the Baptist, Lazarus Hospitaller - St. Lazarus
control of the mediterranean - After the loss of the Holy Land, the Johnites set themselves a new goal: to protect Christian ships from Muslim pirates and free the slaves captured by them.
Hymn- Ave Crux Alba
Symbols and shrines of St. John
Owl - a symbol of the wisdom of the order
Right hand (right hand) of St. John the Baptist. Two fingers are missing on the palm, the little finger and the middle
2. Location of the Order and chronology
2.1. In the Holy Land
1098 - 1291 Jerusalem
1244 Battle of Forbia. The Order of St. Lazarus lost the master and all his knights, including lepers.
1255, the status of Lazarus' Hospitallers is confirmed by a bull of Pope Alexander IV
1262, Pope Urban IV also confirms the charter of the Lazarites
2.2. On islands
1291 - 1310, Cyprus
1306 - 1522 Rhodes
1348, on the island of Lazaretto in the Venetian lagoon, the green knights founded the Infirmary for lepers
1523 - 1530 seven years of wandering
1530 - 1798, Malta
1789 - 1799, during the French Revolution, Louis XVIII, being in exile, as Grand Master of the Green Knights, called them to him
2.3. Order in Russia
1798 - 1803, St. Petersburg
1798 - 1801, 72m Pavel becomes Grand Master of the Order of St. John I . He establishes, in addition to the Catholic one, the Orthodox Priory. 12 conspirators kill him in the Mikhailovsky Castle (St. Petersburg).
1928, in Paris, a complete list of the Hereditary Commanders of the Russian Priory is given, these are 23 surnames, 10 of which have already died. Alive 12 commanders sign the Declaration on the re-establishment of the Orthodox Order of John. The Order of Malta does not recognize its Orthodox counterparts, but their organization continues to exist as the Union of Descendants of Hereditary Commanders under the patronage of the House of Romanov.
2.4. Currently in Rome
1853, death of the last Lazarite knighted before the French Revolution
2008 - 2017 Matthew Fasting - 79th Grand Master of the Hospitallers
2012, split of the Order and founding of Saint Lazarus International in Jerusalem, with its own Grand Master
On April 16, 2012, the State Secretariat of the Vatican released a statement on April 16, which became a response to frequent inquiries to the Holy See about its relationship to a particular order of chivalry. The Apostolic Capital explained that there are only 5 orders that have been awarded the title of knighthood: the Supreme Order of Christ, the Order of the Golden Spur, the Order of Pius IX, the Order of St. Gregory the Great and the Order of St. Sylvester. The Holy See also recognizes the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem as knights. Other orders - new institutions and everything connected with them - are not recognized by the Holy See, since they do not guarantee their historical and legal legitimacy, their goals and organizational systems. In this regard, the State Secretariat warns that it is necessary to refrain from holding ceremonies for the presentation of knightly diplomas or awards in temples and places of worship that are issued without the consent and recognition of the Holy See. Such events are said to cause spiritual harm to many "people of good will".
2013, Matthew Festing, who has held the post of Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta since 2008, spoke about the current situation in the order, which will celebrate the 900th anniversary of its founding on February 9, 2013. The Order, at the present time, has 13, 5 thousand knights and has diplomatic relations with 104 states, AP reports. “On the one hand, we are a sovereign state, on the other hand, a religious order, on the third hand, we are a humanitarian organization. Thus, we are a mixture of all this,” said the Magister. Matthew Festing hopes that in the near future it will be possible to facilitate the possibility of entry into the order of people of non-aristocratic origin, especially in Europe. “Of course, this principle [the principle of recruiting new members of the order only from noble families] has not become outdated - but do not forget that we live in the 21st century. In order to become a knight of our order in Europe, indeed, belonging to noble blood is one of the conditions. But this is only one of the conditions - there are a number of other requirements. In other places - Australia, Central and North America, Southeast Asia - the requirements for new members are based on other principles,” said Matthew Festing.
2015, the official beatification process for the deceased began Andrew Bertie, 78th Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitable Order of Saint John, Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta. Andrew Bertie became head of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1988 and served the order until his death in 2008. Under his leadership, the Knights of Malta helped the poor and sick around the world. Andrew Bertie is the first leader of the Knights of Malta to be beatified. The Mass opening the process of beatification, which was also attended by Cardinal Raymond Burke, Patron Saint of the Knights of Malta, was officiated by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Vicar of the Diocese of Rome.
December 10, 2016, 50th Grand Master of the Green Knights - Jan, Count of Dobzhensky and Dobzhinsky, was consecrated by Pope Francis to the commander of the papal equestrian Order
January 25, 2017, Grand Master of the Order of Malta Matthew Festing (No. 79) resigned after a conflict with the Vatican. This was reported by Reuters. This happened as a result of Festing's personal meeting with Pope Francis. “The Pope asked him to leave his post, and he agreed,” said the official representative of the order. Now the decision will have to be approved by the government of the order - the Sovereign Council. After the final resignation of Festing and until the election of a new Grand Master, the duties of the head of the order will be performed by Grand Commander Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein. This step came as a surprise to the knights - as a rule, the master holds his post for life. Festing's resignation was led by a conflict with the Holy See after the overthrow of the Grand Hospitaller of the Order of Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager because of his too liberal interpretation of the tenets of Catholicism. When the pontiff set up a commission to investigate the circumstances of the incident, the order issued a statement asking the Vatican not to interfere in its internal affairs. The Order of Malta is a chivalric religious order of the Catholic Church. It has the status of an observer organization at the UN and the Council of Europe, maintains diplomatic relations with 105 states. The order itself considers itself a state, although this claim is disputed by many international lawyers. At the same time, the order issues its own passports, prints stamps and currency. The Grand Master of the order is the papal viceroy.
since 2017, Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein is acting Master until the election.
May 2, 2018 , b Former Locum Tenens of the Order of Malta, Giacomo Dalla Torre, is elected Grand Master. This was announced on Wednesday by the press service of the most ancient religious order at the end of the meeting of the State Council, where the voting took place.As locum tenens, 74-year-old Giacomo Dalla Torre, elected to this post a year ago after the resignation of Grand Master Matthew Festing, was supposed to reform the constitution of the order. Dalla Torre became 80th Grand Master and must take the oath before the Under-Secretary of State for General Affairs of the Vatican, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, who was appointed papal delegate to the order after Festing's resignation. The Grand Master is elected for life. Dalla Torre has been the head of the Grand Priory of Rome (one of the 12 oldest associations of the order) since 2008 and belongs to the highest class (first class) of knights who represent the religious elite of the order and from which its head can be chosen. Dalla Torre joined the order in 1985 and took a vow of obedience in 1993. He was already Grand Commander (second person in the hierarchy of the order), and then Locum Tenens (temporary head of the order) after the death of Grand Master Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie in 2008, before the election of Matthew Festing to this post.
3. Structure of the Order
Eight Languages of the Order
1. Provence, symbol - Archangel Michael, emblem - coat of arms of Jerusalem
2. Auvergne, symbol - St. Sebastian, emblem - Blue Dolphin
3. France, symbol - St. Paul, emblem - coat of arms of France
4. Castile and Leon, symbol - St. James the Lesser, emblem - coat of arms of Castile and Leon
5. Aragon, symbol - George the Victorious, emblem - Virgin
6. Italy, symbol - Catherine of Bologna, emblem - blue inscription ITALIA
7. England, symbol - Flagellation of Christ, emblem - coat of arms of England
8. Germany, symbol - Epiphany, emblem - Black double-headed eagle
Management of the Order
At the head of the order was the Grand Master (Master). His rule was elective and usually for life, although there were cases of overthrow and even assassination of the Grand Masters. The master made decisions on all current affairs of the order. However, his power was not unlimited. He was subordinate to the General Chapter, which met at the headquarters of the order usually once a year at the suggestion of the Grand Master and determined the policy of the order for the near future. The competence of the Chapter also included the election of the Master. The pope and the kings of the crusader states very rarely intervened in these elections; From the 15th century, however, the practice of transferring this position to his protégés begins.
The closest associates of the Grand Master were:
Grand Komtur - Deputy Grand Master and administrative and economic head of the order
Seneschal - dealt with military matters, weapons and the construction of fortresses
Grand Hospitaller - was responsible for the charitable activities of the order, sanitary and medical issues
Grand Sacristy - in charge of clothing and partly for military uniforms
Grand Treasurer - was responsible for the finances and treasures of the order.
4 Hospitaller Buildings
Notable fortresses of the Hospitallers
Krak des Chevaliers (Syria)
Fortress of Markab (Syria)
Fortress in Akko (Israel)
Rhodes fortress (Greece)
Fortress in Kusadasi (Türkiye)
Fortress on the island of Halicarnassus (Türkiye)
Hospitaller Library
From the moment of its foundation, the Order began to diligently replenish its library of Charlemagne with ancient books on philosophy, medicine, including palmistry, shipbuilding and navigation ... and now their collection of ancient works is very large.
History of the Order of Malta Zakharov V A
Chapter 1 THE ORDER OF JOHNITES at the end of the 11th - beginning of the 14th century
ORDER OF JOHNITES
late 11th - early 14th century
Causes of the Crusades. First crusade. Capture of Jerusalem. Creation of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Grand Master Raymond de Puy. Fortress of the Johnites. Second Crusade. War with Saladin. Third and Fourth Crusades. The defeat of the crusaders in the East. Knights of Cyprus
Causes of the Crusades
Late 11th–13th centuries in Europe passed under the sign of the Crusades.
Bernard Kugler in his "History of the Crusades" explains the causes of the Crusades in this way: "Already from ancient times, Christians with pious tenderness visited those places in Palestine where the Lord's foot had set foot, but only since the church pointed out the praiseworthiness of traveling to the Holy Places , only since then, as in the labors, costs, dangers that the pilgrim took upon himself, the ascetic mood began to see the work of repentance pleasing to God, and in prayer in a particularly sacred place, in touching relics, it began to see the most faithful cleansing from sins, - only from that time, and mainly during the 11th century, did the journey to the Holy Places become an important factor in the Christian life of the Middle Ages.
When the people of the West reached Jerusalem, they were naturally ambivalent. When it fell to their lot to have the opportunity to pray at the Holy Sepulcher, they not only indulged in insane delight, but also resolutely embraced their ardent anger at the fact that the enemies of their faith ruled in the most holy places for them, and lacked only some external impetus, to cause a huge military-religious explosion in the West.
This impetus was given by the Seljuks ... ".
The same opinion is shared by the Russian historian A.A. Vasiliev:
"The situation of European pilgrims in Jerusalem and other Holy Places immediately deteriorated. The Arabs treated them well, freely allowed them to worship shrines and perform services. The Turks, having captured Jerusalem, began to put up all sorts of obstacles, persecute and insult pilgrims. Little by little, a conviction was created in Europe in the need to help Christianity in the East and return to the Christian world its most precious and revered shrines.
For all classes of medieval society, the crusades seemed very attractive from worldly points of view. Barons and knights, in addition to religious motives, hoped for glorious deeds, for profit, for the satisfaction of their ambition; merchants expected to increase their profits by expanding trade with the East; the oppressed peasants were freed from serfdom for participation in the crusade and knew that during their absence the church and the state would take care of the families they left behind in their homeland; debtors and defendants knew that during their participation in the crusade they would not be prosecuted by the creditor or the court.
First crusade. Capture of Jerusalem
In 1095, the desperate Byzantine Emperor Alexei Komnenos turned to the Pope for help against the Seljuk Turks. In November 1095, Urban II convened an ecclesiastical council in Clermont, France, which was attended by 14 archbishops, 200 bishops and 400 abbots. The Council decided to organize a Crusade to the East - "for the sake of the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem."
In August 1096, a 100,000-strong army of crusaders from Lower Lorraine, Italy and France set off on a campaign. "The main militias that moved to liberate the Holy Sepulcher were four: 1) Lorraine under the command of Gottfried of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, with whom his brother Baldwin was; 2) middle and north French, in which the main leaders were the brother of the French king Hugo of Vermandois, Duke of Normandy Robert and Robert Friese of Flanders; 3) South French or Provencal, led by Raymond, Count of Toulouse, and 4) Norman from southern Italy under Bohemond, Prince of Tarentum, joined by his nephew Tancred" .
The Seljuks were defeated by the crusaders on July 1, 1097 in the terrible battle of Dorilei - the outcome of the war in Asia Minor became obvious.
At the beginning of 1098, Baldwin's troops took Edessa, a large Armenian trading city on the way from Syria to Mesopotamia. Baldwin founded the County of Edessa - the first crusader state in the East.
After the capture of Antioch by Bohemond of Tarentum in June 1098, the second state formation of the crusaders was created - the Principality of Antioch.
By the time the crusaders stormed Jerusalem was already in the possession of the Egyptian caliph.
The anonymous Italo-Norman chronicle of the 11th century, "The Acts of the Franks and Other Jerusalemites," describes the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders on July 15, 1099:
"And so we approached Jerusalem on Tuesday, 8 days before the June ides. Robert of Normandy besieged Jerusalem from the north side, near the church of the first martyr St. Stephen, where he was stoned for Christ. Count Robert of Flanders adjoined the Duke of Normandy. From the west, the city Duke Gottfried and Tancred besieged from the south, fortified on Mount Sion, the Count Saint-Gilles led the siege.
On Friday, July 15, we rushed to the fortifications. There was such a massacre that ours stood ankle-deep in blood. Entering the city, our pilgrims drove and killed the Saracens to the Temple of Solomon, gathering in which they gave us the most fierce battle of the whole day, so that their blood flowed throughout the temple.
In the History of Damascus, Ibn-al-Kalyanisi describes the capture of Jerusalem as follows: “Then they went to Jerusalem at the end of the Rajab of this year. They set up a siege tower and moved it to the city walls, and continued to fight until the end of the day. And the next day, the Franks again approached the city, climbed the siege tower and from there poured onto the walls, and the townspeople fled. And the Franks entered the city and captured it ".
The medieval chronicle of Raymond Agilsky "The History of the Franks who took Jerusalem" continues: "Ours, already exhausted, began to run to the walls, others began to attach ladders and throw ropes. fortifications that the Saracens did just with those erected opposite the wooden tower of the duke and both counts (Gottfried of Bouillon, Robert of Flanders, Eustathius of Boulogne. - Auth.); the sacks were stuffed with cotton. The fire, having flared up here, put to flight those who defended the fortification. Then the duke and those who were with him quickly threw a shield cover of woven rods, which covered the tower from front to top to the middle, and, having made a bridge, fearless, they began to break through to Jerusalem in this way.
So, on July 15, 1099, the crusaders, after a long siege and a fierce assault, took Jerusalem. The first sovereign of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was Gottfried of Bouillon, who was replaced in 1100 by his heir Baldwin of Edessa, who ruled until 1118.
From 1100 to 1124 the crusaders took the most important trading ports of Haifa, Arsur, Caesarea, Acre, Tripoli, Sidon, Beirut and Tire and founded new crusader states - kingdoms, principalities, counties, divided into baronies, fiefs and fiefs.
Creation of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem
When visiting the Joannite hospice, the first Jerusalem king, Duke Gottfried of Bouillon, donated the village of Salsola, located near Jerusalem, to maintain the hospital. Four crusader knights from the retinue of the king - Raymond de Puy, Dudon de Comps, Conon de Montague, Gastus voluntarily stayed with Gerard de Thorn, having taken the monastic vows of the Benedictines.
In 1099, the brotherhood of the Johnites was transformed into an Order, the first head of which was Gerard de Thorne. At the same time, black long clothes with an eight-pointed cross sewn on it came into use for members of the Order. At first, members of the Order cared for the sick and wounded, and from the first half of the 12th century they began to participate in wars with the Muslim states of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and guard pilgrims who arrived in Palestine in two ways - by land through Asia Minor and Byzantium or along the Mediterranean Sea. The brotherhood began to accept knights as members, obliging them to protect pilgrims along the way.
Researcher of medieval monasticism L.P. Karsavin noted:
“The ascetic ideal influenced not only the church strata. It also influenced the laity, and from its fusion with the ideal of chivalry, a peculiar form was obtained - knightly orders. Not yet ascetic, and not yet merging with the monastic, the knightly ideal was already a Christian ideal. The knights were, according to ideologists, the defenders of the weak and unarmed, widows and orphans, the defenders of Christianity against infidels and heretics.Mission to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land, to help those of them who, sick or poor, needed it, to protect the Holy Sepulcher from infidels flowed from the ideal of Christian chivalry. Thanks to the dominance of the ascetic worldview, it was combined with the taking of monastic vows, and so the knightly orders arose. "
Almost at the same time, in 1118, the order of the Templars or Templars was founded by the French knights, and later the Teutonic knightly order was also created.
"The first orders of chivalry - the three most famous orders of the Holy Land and the three Spanish orders - arose as the purest embodiment of the medieval spirit in the combination of monastic and knightly ideals, at a time when the battle with Islam was becoming ... a reality."
"The spirit of the Crusades was chiefly military and religious, so it gave birth to monastic chivalry, which is the best expression of the mood and interests of an era when Christianity was forced to repulse the armed propaganda of Islam by force of arms.
Almost at the same time, some monks began to gird themselves with a sword around their cassock and some knights put on a monastic cassock over chain mail.
In 1104, King Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who succeeded Gottfried of Bouillon, once again recognized and confirmed the privileges of the Brotherhood of Hospitallers as a military-spiritual Order. And in 1107, he allocated a piece of land to the Order (since that time, the Knights Hospitaller began to acquire land in other European countries).
In 1113, Pope Paschal II, with his Bull, approved the brotherhood of the Hospital of St. John, took them under his protection and ensured the right to freely choose their primates, without the interference of any secular or ecclesiastical authorities. The Pope also gave the right to address questions concerning the Order directly to him.
Grand Master Raymond de Puy
In 1120, Gerard de Thorn died, and the hero of the assault on Jerusalem, Raymond de Puy, from the noble family of Dauphine, was elected in his place. Since that time, the head of the Order began to be called the Grand Master.
Preserving the famous hospital, the St. Johnites considered the military protection of pilgrims on the roads of the Holy Land leading to Jerusalem no less important for themselves.
For this purpose, the members of the Order were divided into three classes: knights, who had to be of noble birth and perform both military and sitting duties, chaplains, who were responsible for the religious activities of the Order, and squires.
To fulfill the tasks of the Order, the Grand Master Raymond de Puy compiled the first Charter of the Order - the Rules of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (the full text of the Rules is given in Appendix No. 1). In 1120, Pope Calistus II approved this Charter.
The members of the Order were divided into 3 groups: knights, chaplains (priest brothers) and squires (employees who were supposed to serve the representatives of the first two groups). Only a hereditary nobleman could become a knight. The inclusion of novice sisters in the Order was also encouraged. All members of the Brotherhood of Hospitallers had to faithfully serve their religious and spiritual ideals. They did not accept into the Order those people whose parents were engaged in trade or banking.
During rite of passage in the Order, new members took an oath of allegiance to the Grand Master, vows of chastity, personal poverty, obedience, mercy and pious deeds.
On the banner of the Order, approved in 1130 by Pope Innocent II, a white eight-pointed cross was embroidered on a red background. On the Order Seal, a lying patient was depicted with a cross at the head and with a candle at his feet.
The black cloth clothing of the Joannites was made following the example of the clothing of John the Baptist, made of camel hair, the narrow sleeves of which symbolized the renunciation of secular life, and the linen white eight-pointed cross on the chest symbolized their chastity. The four directions of the cross spoke of the main Christian virtues - prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, and the eight ends meant the eight blessings that were promised by Christ to all the righteous in paradise in the Sermon on the Mount.
In the first decades of its existence, the young Order, like most of the monastic orders of the Western Church, was an integral part of a strict church hierarchy. And, although by its legal nature the Order was a religious corporation, it nevertheless differed from other orders, since it was located not in a Christian country, but outside it, being on the territory of domination of Muslim rulers.
Already in 1124, with the help of the Knights of St. John, the siege of the Arabs was lifted from the main port of the Kingdom of Jerusalem - Jaffa, and Tire, the richest city in the Eastern Mediterranean, was taken.
Having turned into a powerful military alliance, the Order began to be called: "Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem." As the glory and merit of the Order grew, more and more noble aristocrats and knights from all over Europe joined it. During the 30 years of the leadership of the Order by Grand Master Raymond de Puy, the tasks of this brotherhood have far outgrown the purely local scale of activity.
A selfless and bloody armed defense of the Holy Land was carried out from the Saracens and Ottomans, who for several centuries tried to expand their borders and enter the European Mediterranean. We also note the independence of the Order from the very beginning from all other states, based on papal institutions, as well as the generally recognized right to have an army and conduct military operations.
The popes of Rome constantly gave privileges to the Johnites, excluding them from the subordination of local secular and spiritual authorities and giving them the right to collect church tithes in their favor. The priests of the Order reported only to the Chapter and the Grand Master.
In 1143, Pope Innocent II issued a special bull, according to which the Order of St. John did not submit to either spiritual or secular authorities - only directly to the pope himself.
In 1153, Pope Anastasius IV, with the bull "Christianae Fidei Religio", divided the members of the Order into knights, dressed in red semi-monastic, semi-military clothes with a black cape, and squires.
The hierarchy of the Order of St. John - knights, priests and hospital brothers was approved by the Pope later, in 1259. Further privileges were granted to the Order by Pope Adrian IV, Alexander III, Innocent III, and Pope Clement IV awarded the head of the Order with the title: "Grand Master of the Holy Hospital of Jerusalem and Rector of the Host of Christ.
Fortresses of the ioannites
Pilgrims from Europe were provided with protection, treatment, housing and food in numerous hospitable houses and hospitals. The second main task of the knights of St. John - the fight against the infidels - also assumed the participation of the Order in all military campaigns and the defense of the crusader states formed in the East. The castles of the Joannites in Palestine and their unparalleled defense have become legendary.
In 1136, Count Raymond of Tripoli ordered the Knights of St. John to defend the fortress of Beth Jibelin, which covered the approaches to the port city of Ascalon in southern Palestine. The knights successfully passed the test and the count handed over several more of his fortresses to the ioannites.
Within a few years, the Order of St. John had about half a thousand members who successfully defended more than fifty fortresses in the Levant alone.
In many seaside cities of the East, Byzantium and Western Europe, the St. John opened hospice-hospitals. Johnite fortresses were located on almost all the roads of pilgrims - in Acre, Saida, Tortosa, Antioch - from Edessa to Sinai.
The main fortresses of the Order of St. John in the north of Palestine were Krak des Chevaliers and Margat, and in the south - the castles of Belver and Bet Jibelin.
The ioannites built their fortresses on elevated places, and they dominated the entire surrounding area, allowing them to control the entire territory within a radius of several kilometers. The Arab author, describing the fortress of Belver, compared it with an eagle's nest. In fortresses and castles, Johnites, as a rule, always built a second line of fortifications.
The fortress of Krak des Chevaliers, located on the slopes of the Lebanese mountains, was transferred to the Johnites by Count Raymond II of Tripoli in 1144 and had powerful double walls built by knights with high towers and a moat punched into the rocks. Inside the fortress (with a total area of about three hectares) there were residential buildings, barracks, the chamber of the Grand Master, grain granaries, a mill, a bakery, an oil mill, and stables. An aqueduct was laid in the fortress, through which drinking water was constantly supplied, sufficient for a 2,000-strong garrison.
None of the fortresses of the Johnites was surrendered without a fight. Beth Djibelin Castle fell in 1187, Bellver Castle - in 1189 after a siege by Saladin's troops.
Krak des Chevaliers from 1110 to 1271 withstood twelve sieges, and only in 1271 was taken by the troops of the Mameluk Sultan of Egypt, Baibars.
The fortress of Margat was handed over to the Hospitallers by Count Raymond III of Tripoli in 1186. This fortress was located south of Antioch, 35 kilometers from the sea, and was built of rocky basalt with double walls and large towers. Inside was a large underground reservoir. The reserves of the fortress allowed the thousandth garrison to withstand a five-year siege. For a long time, the fortress of Margat was one of the main residences of the Order. The Margat Charters adopted in it are known (in which for the first time the knights began to be divided according to nationality into "Languages" or "Nations"). Margat fell after a brutal siege by the Mamelukes in 1285.
Second Crusade. War with Saladin
In 1137, the troops of the Byzantine emperor John Komnenos briefly captured Antioch, and in December 1144, the detachments of the Seljuk emir Imad-ad-din defeated the Principality of Edessa. After the appeal of the ambassadors of Christian states in the East to the Pope Eugene III in the summer of 1147, the Second Crusade began, in which the Johnites also took part.
The seventy-thousand-strong army of crusaders led by the French king Louis VII and the German king Conrad III Hohenstaufen returned home to Europe with nothing after the unsuccessful siege of Damascus - the II Crusade ended unsuccessfully.
In 1153, the Joannites participated in the capture of Ascalon, an important Egyptian city, in 1168, in the unsuccessful siege of Cairo. By the end of the 12th century, there were more than 600 knights in the Order of St. John.
In 1171, the Egyptian vizier Yusuf Salah-ad-din, named Saladin in Europe, seized power in Egypt, uniting Syria and Mesopotamia under his control for several years.
A fierce struggle between the Mamelukes and the Crusaders began.
In 1185, the king of Jerusalem and Salah ad-Din signed a peace treaty for four years. But at the beginning of 1187, the owner of two fortresses - Kerak and Krak de Montreal - Baron Rene of Shatillon attacked the Salah ad-Din caravan, which was going from Cairo to Damascus. Among the captured prisoners was the sister of the ruler of Egypt. The Sultan demanded an explanation, but Rene replied that he had not signed the contract and was not complying with it.
Salah ad-Din declared a holy war on the crusaders - "jihad".
The 60,000-strong Mameluke army led by Salah ad-Din invaded the land of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and on July 1, 1187 took Tiberias. On July 5, near Hittin, located between Lake Tiberias and Nazareth, the crusaders were utterly defeated by the army of Salah ad-Din - the Jerusalem king Guido Lusignan, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar and many knights were captured. After the defeat of the crusader army near Hittin, more than 200 knights were executed; René of Chatillon was beheaded by Salah ad-Din himself.
After Hittin, the detachments of Salah ad-Din took the ports of Acre, Toron, Sidon, Beirut, Nazareth, Jaffa and Ascalon - the Kingdom of Jerusalem was cut off from Europe.
In mid-September 1187, Salah ad-Din's army laid siege to Jerusalem. On October 2, the city surrendered - Jerusalem opened the gates. The inhabitants of Jerusalem could leave the city only by paying a ransom - 10 gold dinars for a man, 5 for a woman and 1 for a child; those who could not do this - became a slave. 3,000 poor people were released just like that.
The crusaders still had Belfort, Tire, Tripoli, Krak des Chevaliers, Margat and Antioch.
Third and Fourth Crusades
In May 1189, the III Crusade began, led by the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the French king Philip II and the English king Richard the Lionheart. The Joannite knights also took part in the campaign. On the way, King Richard took the island of Cyprus, which had been set aside from Byzantium, and the former head of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, became its king. On July 11, 1191, the Crusaders stormed Acre, where the main residence of the Order of St. John was located. The residences of the Joannites were also in Tire and Margat.
Richard the Lionheart besieged Jerusalem, but could not take the city - on September 2, 1192, a peace was concluded with Salah ad-Din, according to which Jerusalem remained with the Mamelukes, and only a narrow coastal strip from Tyre to Jaffa remained behind the crusaders. The capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was moved to Acre.
The Ioannites also participated in the IV Crusade, which began in 1199. The troops under the leadership of the Italian Margrave Boniface of Montferatt and Baldwin of Flanders on the Venetian courts Enrico Dandolo instead of war with Egypt, at the request of the pretender to the imperial throne, the Byzantine prince Alexios Angel, approached Constantinople and after the siege on April 13 1204 took the capital of Byzantium. Count Baldwin IX of Flanders was chosen as Emperor of the new Latin Empire on 9 May.
The Crusaders seized and divided among themselves the lands of Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, Attica, Boeotia, the Peloponnese and the islands of the Aegean Sea. At the same time, with the participation of the Ioannites, the Principality of Morea was formed on the Peloponnesian Peninsula.
The Order gradually became a major landowner. First, he received possessions both in Palestine (in the conquered lands) and in Europe as a reward for military exploits and services rendered to monarchs. Secondly, the knights of honor (or "knights in justice"), who took all the vows (including the vow of poverty), donated their property and real estate to the Order. Thirdly, the Order inherited the lands of its dead knights (in the Rules of Raymond de Puy, the knight on his way was ordered to "make a spiritual testament or other order", and very often the knights declared the Order their heir).
Each separate domain of the Order was called a commandery, and, as usual, in each such domain (both in Palestine and in Europe), the Order arranged a hospital in honor of St. John of Jerusalem.
During the Crusades, there were several states of the Joannites (the state of the Johannites in Akkona with its capital in Acre was the last crusader state in Palestine after the fall of Jerusalem).
The defeat of the crusaders in the East
During the Fifth Crusade 1217–1221 the ioannites participated in the unsuccessful siege of the fortress of Tavor (77 towers), and during the campaign against Mamluk Egypt, they took part in a long siege and capture of the fortress of Damista.
In 1230, the Johnites made contacts with the Assassins, a secret Muslim organization-state formed at the end of the 11th century in Iran and which had fortresses and castles in Syria and Lebanon.
In August 1244, Jerusalem was taken by the troops of the Egyptian Sultan as-Salih. On October 17, 1244, the united army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was defeated at Harbshah by the troops of the Egyptian Sultan Baybars. Of the 7,000 knights, only 33 Templars, 3 Teutons and 27 Joannites survived; about 800 knights were taken prisoner. In 1247, the Egyptians also captured part of Galilee and the city of Ascalon, which was defended by the knights of Johannism.
In 1265, Sultan Baybars took Caesarea and Arsuf, in 1268 - Jaffa, Antioch and the powerful fortress of the Teutonic Order of Montfort. In 1271 the fortress of Krak des Chevaliers in Syria was taken.
In 1270, the last Crusade took place - the eighth. On July 17, crusader troops, led by the French king Louis IX, landed in Tunis, where the king died of a fever. The campaign ended in vain, peace was signed - the crusaders could not turn the tide in their favor.
In 1285, the troops of Sultan Baibars took Margat, in 1287 - Latakia, in April 1289 - Tripoli.
In 1291, despite all the valor of the Knights of the Red Cross (Templars) and the Knights of the White Cross (Hospitallers) fighting side by side, Acre was lost in the face of the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Muslim forces. The Kingdom of Jerusalem ceased to exist, as did the last possessions of the crusaders in the East.
Knights of Cyprus
At the end of the XIII century. the johannites moved to Cyprus, captured back in 1191 by the troops of the English king Richard the Lionheart and sold to the Templars, who then ceded the island to Guy de Lusignan, king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (this dynasty held the island until 1489). Through the efforts of the Grand Master Jean de Villiers, the St. Johnites in Cyprus already had castles in Nicosia, Kolossi and other places.
The retreat to Cyprus was quite combative - "Grand Master Jean de Villiers and his knights cut their way to the order galley, while archers covering their valiant retreat from the deck rained down hails of arrows on the enemy, who sought to destroy the last of the surviving heroes of the Great Christian Armies Broken and wounded, but not subjugated or broken, the knights landed in Cyprus, where King Guy de Lusignan received them in a friendly manner.The Order became a vassal of the King of Cyprus and received from him the fief of Limassol (Limisso) as a fief. Saint Samson merged with the Order of the Hospitallers, and this union became known as the "knights of Cyprus".
In 1291, the King of Cyprus, Anri II Lusignan, presented the knights with the city of Limisso, (which was approved by Pope Clement V), where then for eighteen years the residence of the Order was.
"A General Chapter was held in Limiss, so that since the founding of the Order there had not been such a crowded meeting. Some of the cavaliers advised the Grand Master to move to Italy, but he and other senior cavaliers, having the subject of ever returning the Promised Land, rejected the offer of the former, but they decided to stay for a while in Limiss. Here the Grand Master founded an inn for the poor and strangers, ordered the gentlemen to arm the ships on which they arrived in Cyprus, and use them to protect worshipers, who, even after the loss of Jerusalem by Christians, did not stop visiting the Holy Places. Soon after this, the cavaliers went to sea, where, gathering strangers, they escorted them to their fatherland and fought for them with corsairs, they received great booty, which increased the weapons of the Order so that in a short time many ships left the harbor, and the flag of the Order of St. John on all the seas was at last in great respect.
Due to the inconstancy of the king of Cyprus, his incessant disagreements with the gentlemen continued, which is why the Grand Master decided to change this place. He turned his gaze to the island, which was then owned by Leon Gallus, who had fallen away from the Greek emperor. Gallus, having gathered the Turks and the Saracens, armed himself and resisted the cavaliers in the complete conquest of the island for more than two years. The islands of Nissaro, Episcopia, Colchis, Simia, Tilo, Leros, Kalalu and Kos also took an oath of allegiance to the Grand Master.
In accordance with medieval fief law, although the Order retained a certain freedom in solving its own affairs, it was forced to be in a certain dependence on its lord, which was expressed, in particular, in the payment of tribute and military service. As we can see from the above passage, Grand Master Guillaume de Villaret did not have a relationship with the lord de Lusignan, and the proud knight began to look for another place for himself.
Twenty years in Cyprus allowed the Order to recuperate. The treasury was filled with numerous receipts from Europe, as well as booty from naval victories over corsairs and Turks. The influx of new knights from Europe increased. The Order regained its former power. While the Knights Templar and Teutonic, after the loss of the Holy Land, moved to the home countries of their knights and, despite their importance, eventually found themselves dependent on their lords, the knights of the Order of St. John decided to conquer the island of Rhodes.
This fact, and the fact that pilgrims to the Holy Land, sailing by sea, were often attacked by Barbary pirates, predetermined the transformation of the Order, which until then had only a land army, into a maritime power, which later became one of the most significant in the Mediterranean. Everyone soon became convinced that the Order was as formidable at sea as it was on land.
In 1294, the General Chapter revised the constitution of the Order, which now began to correspond to its supranational character, which was manifested in the organization of internal government according to the principle of "Languages" (or "Nations"), mentioned in the Margat Charters already in 1206. But then the Order opened for himself the opportunity, having taken possession of the island of Rhodes, to establish an independent and independent principality - an order state, and thereby win the position that would later be called sovereignty.
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The Order of the Hospitallers is the most famous and celebrated of the spiritual and chivalric orders. Its full name is the Sovereign Military Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta. The residence of the Order, since 1834, is located in Rome on Via Condotti. The Order also owns the Palace of the Grand Masters on the Aventine Hill.
The history of the Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta sovereign military Order of the Hospitallers of St. John, also called the Order of the Johnites, or Hospitallers, has its roots in ancient times.
The well-known historian G. Scicluna, who worked for a long time as the director of the National Library of Valletta, writes that the first mention of the monastic brotherhood of the Hospitallers dates back to the 4th century AD. e., when Christian pilgrims rushed to the Holy places.
The brotherhood got its name from the hospital, or hospice, founded by him in Jerusalem. The hospital in Jerusalem continued to exist after the capture of the Holy Places of Christianity by Muslims. The monks gave shelter to pilgrims and treated the sick.
Between 1023 and 1040, several merchants from Amalfi, a city on the southern coast of Italy that was one of the centers of Levantine trade until the end of the 16th century, founded a new hospital or, more likely, restored an old one that had been destroyed by the order of the Egyptian caliph Hakim. The hospital was located in Jerusalem, not far from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and consisted of two separate buildings - for men and women. Under him, the church of Mary the Latin was built, in which the Benedictine monks celebrated services. The day of commemoration of John the Baptist in the church calendar has become the most solemn feast of the Johnites.
Brotherhood and the Crusades
The importance of the Brotherhood of Hospitallers especially increased in the era of the Crusades (1096-1291). When on July 15, 1099, during the first crusade, the crusaders under the leadership of Gottfried of Bouillon entered Jerusalem, they found the hospital active. As a token of gratitude for the help in taking the city, Gottfried of Bouillon generously rewarded the hospitallers. However, what exactly this assistance consisted of is not known for certain.
Only a legend has survived to this day that Gerard, the head of the monastic brotherhood, selflessly tried to help his fellow believers during the siege. Knowing that famine had begun in the camp of the besiegers, he threw not stones, but freshly baked bread from the city walls onto the heads of the soldiers of Gottfried of Bouillon. Gerard was seized, he was threatened with death, from which he was miraculously delivered: before the eyes of the judges before whom he appeared, the bread turned into stones. Many knights joined the brotherhood; soon it took over the protection of the pilgrims on their journeys to the holy places. The Hospitallers not only built hospitals, but also fortified fortresses along the pilgrim roads.
Brotherhood becomes an order
The head of the brotherhood of the Hospitallers (during the days of the first crusade he was called rector) brother Gerard was a native of Provence or Amalfi. Apparently, Gerard possessed not only remarkable piety, which allowed the hospitaliers to rank him among the saints, but he was, as often happened with saints, an efficient organizer. Through his efforts, the brotherhood was transformed into a monastic order. When its members appeared at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and, in the presence of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, pronounced three monastic vows - obedience, piety and non-possession, they could hardly assume that the new Order was destined to outlive all other medieval knightly orders and exist until the end of the 20th century.
Order Of Malta
Posted by Malfis K.
Posted by Malfis K.
Order of the Hospitallers (Johnites)
(Alliance de Chevalerie des Hospitaliers de Saint Jean de Jerusalem)
(Brief historical outline)
Part 1.
This Order is perhaps the oldest of the known twelve monastic-knightly Orders of the Middle Ages.
Of this dozen, the most noticeable trace in the history of the Middle Ages in general, and in particular in the history of the Crusades, was left by three - the Hospitallers, the Templars and the Teutons. The Order of the Templars ceased to exist in the first half of the 14th century, the other two still exist, although they do not now play any noticeable political and military-political role. They degenerated into charitable public organizations, i.e. back to where they started.
This Order is known by a number of names, and in addition, over time, its names have changed.
In Russia, it is known under the following names:
*Hospice House of the Jerusalem Hospital;
*Order of St. John of Alexandria;
*Order of St. John the Baptist;
* Order of St. John of Jerusalem;
*Order of Saint John;
*Order of Malta;
*Order of the Hospitallers;
*Order of John.
Name in French:
*Alliance de Chevalerie des Hospitaliers de Saint Jean de Jerusalem- Knight's Hospital Union of St. John of Jerusalem.
Names in English are:
*Religious Military Order of the Roman Catholic Church- Religious Military Order of the Roman Catholic Church;
*Order of Saint John-Order of Saint John;
*Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Malta- Sovereign Military Hospital Order of Malta;
*Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta- Independent Military Hospital Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta;
*The Chivalric Alliance of Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem- Knight's Hospital Union of St. John of Jerusalem;
*The Order of St. John of Jerusalem-Order of St. John of Jerusalem;
*The Order of the Knights of Malta- Order of the Knights of Malta;
*Sovereign Military Order- Sovereign Military Order.
The abbreviation is also known S.M.H.O.M. - S overeign M ilitary H ospitaller O order of M alta.
The name Sovereign Military Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and Malta (Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta) was included in the name of the Order in 1936. The word Hospitaller (Hospital) was adopted in the 19th century and added to the pre-existing name. The word Sovereign (Sovereign) was added after the loss of Malta in 1800 to reflect the autonomous extraterritorial principle; the words Military (Military) and of Malta (Maltese) do not reflect the modern meaning, but reflect its historical and knightly traditions.
The leaders of the Order were named:
* until the summer of 1099. -Rector;
*summer 1099 - 1489 - Founder and Director (Founder and Director) only Gerard, subsequent - Master (Magistery);
* 1489 -1805 - Grand Master (Grand Magistery);
* 1805-28.3.1879 - Lieutenant Magistery;
*3/28/1879-present -Grand Master (Grand Magistery);
From the author. In our literature, it is more common to call the leaders of the Orders "Grandmaster" or "Grand Master" instead of "Grand Master". This is more of a philological dispute and has no fundamental significance.
The order was led at different times (the list is incomplete):
* 1070 (1080?, 1099?) -1120 - Gerard Beatified (Gerard the Blessed);
* 1120-1160 - Raymond du Puy (Raymond de Puy);
*?-1217-? - Garin de Montague;
*? -1309-?- Fulk de Villaret (Falk de Villaret);
*?-1441-? -de Lastic (de Lastic);
*? -1476-? -Helion Villeneuve (Helion Villeneuve)
*? - 1481 - Pierre d "Aubusson (Pierre d" Aubusson);
* 1481 -1534 -Philippe Villiers l "Isle Adam (Philippe Villiers de Lisle Adam);
*1534-? Juan de Homenez;
* 1557-1568 - Jean Parisot de la Valette (Jean Parisot de la Valette);
*1568-1572 -Pietro del Monte;
* 1572-1582 -Jean de la Cassiere (Jean de La Cassiere);
*?-1603 -Alof de Wignacourt;
*?-1657 -Lascaris (Lascaris);
*1657-? -Martin de Redin (Martin de Redin);
*?-1685-? -Karafa;
* 1697-1720 - Raymond de Rocaful;
?-? -Pinto de Fonseca (Pinto de Fonseca);
*?-1797 - Emmanuel de Rohan (Emmanuel de Rohan);
* 1797-1798 -Ferdinand von Hompesch (Ferdinand von Hompesch)
* 1798-1801 - Pavel Petrovich Romanov (Holstein-Gottorp);
* 1803-1805 -Giovanni-Battista Tommasi (Giovanni Battista Tommasi);
* 15.6.1805-17.6.1805 - Innico-Maria Guevara-Suardo (Innico-Maria Guevara-Sardo);
* 17.6.1805-5.12.1805 -Giuseppe Caracciolo (Giuseppe Caracciolo)
* 5.12.1805-1814 - Innico-Maria Guevara-Suardo (Innico-Maria Guevara-Sardo);
* 1814-1821 -Andrea di Giovanni e Centelles (Andrea di Giovanni and Centelles);
* 1821-1834 -Antonio Busca a Milanese (Antonio Busca a Milanese);
* 1834-1846 -Carlo Candida (Carlo Candida);
* 1846-1865 -Philip von Colloredo (Philip von Colloredo);
* 1865-1872 -Alessandro Borgia (Alexander Borgia);
* 1872-1905 -Giovanni-Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce (Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce);
* 1905-1931 -Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein (Galeazzo von Thun und von Hohenstein);
* 1907-1931 - in fact, the lieutenant of the grand master - Pio Franchi de "Cavalieri (Pio Franchi de" Cavalieri) ruled the Order for Galeazzo's illness;
* 1931-1951 - Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere (Ludovik Chigi Albani della Rovere);
* 1951-1955 -Antonio Hercolani-Fava-Simonetti (Antonio Gercolani-Fava-Simonetti). (He had the title of Lieutenant Grandmaster);
* 1955-1962 -Ernesto Paterno Castello di Carcaci (Ernesto Paterno Castello di Caracci); (He had the title of Lieutenant Grandmaster);
* 1962-1988 -Angelo Mojana di Cologna (Angelo Mojana di Colona);
*1988-present -Andrew Bertie (Andrea Bertie).
The time of the reign of Grandmaster Didier de Saint-Jail (XIV-XV century) is unknown.
A hallmark of the Hospitallers is a white eight-pointed cross, also known as the "Maltese cross" on a black cloak. Later, from about the middle of the 12th century, a white eight-pointed cross is worn on the chest on a red supervest (a cloth vest that repeats the cut of a metal cuirass and is worn over or instead of a cuirass).
In the picture on the right, an officer of the Cavalier Guard Regiment of the Russian Army of 1800 in a red supervest with a white Maltese cross ("guard attached to the Grand Master"). Russian Emperor Paul I in 1798-1801 was the Grand Master of the Order of Malta.
By the early Middle Ages, Jerusalem had become a major Christian pilgrimage site, although the difficulties travelers faced as they traveled through a country constantly in turmoil, divided by wars and quarreling local leaders, combined with a long journey across a sea teeming with pirates and marauders, made this an undertaking. extremely dangerous.
And in the Holy Land there were almost no Christian organizations capable of providing lodging, medical care, food for pilgrims, who, moreover, were often captured by local residents for ransom.
Regarding the exact time of the birth of the Order, different historical sources give different dates. According to some sources, in 1070 (25 years before the First Crusade), the noble knight Gerard (Gerard?) founded a sacred brotherhood at the already existing Hospice House in Jerusalem, which took care of Christian pilgrims. According to another version, this happened in 1080 and the founder was not a knight.
The historian Guy Stair Sainty, today's official historiographer of the Teutonic Order, claims that most historians agree that a certain Gerard Beatified (Gerard the Blessed) hails from the city of Martigues, that in the French province of Provence at the time of the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders on July 15, 1099, he was already a rector (Rector) or Master of the Hospital in Jerusalem.
From the author. The term "hospital", which is understood today by everyone as a military hospital or a hospital for the wounded in the war, and is understood only as a purely medical institution, in those days meant a much broader concept. The Latin word "hospital" is translated as "guest". We can say that the Hospital of that time is a hotel or a shelter where the traveler can receive the full range of services that he needs (accommodation, food, treatment, rest, protection, security, religious requirements), and largely free of charge.
During the reign of Gerard, the Hospital was a purely peaceful organization. The number of beds in the hospital reached 2 thousand. The methods of then advanced Arabic medicine were used. He created the first Charters of the Hospital, which for that time, characterized by the absence of any rules and regulations, was simply amazing.
A clipping from a plan of Jerusalem shows the Hospital in red.
The hospital was located near the Church of Saint John the Baptist and not far from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Abbey of Santa Maria Latina.
The hospital was organized in two departments - one for men dedicated to Saint John (Saint John), the other (for women) dedicated to Mary Magdalene (Mary Magdalen) and both departments were originally under the authority of the Abbey of Santa Maria Latina (Abbot of Santa Maria Latina).
Assistance was provided to the sick and wounded of all creeds, which brought the Hospital a lot of income from grateful patients and allowed the Hospital to become independent from the Benedictine Abbey (Benedictine Abbot), soon after the capture of the city by the crusaders. With independence, the Hospital abandoned the worship of Saint Benedict in favor of Saint Augustine.
In 1107, the then Christian king of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, officially approved the monastic Brotherhood (Brotherhood) and secured the land on which the Hospital was located.
The picture shows a panorama of modern Jerusalem with a view of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the place where the Hospital was located.
Under Gerard's guidance, the brothers formed themselves into a religious brotherhood, taking solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
To symbolize their rejection of all worldly things, they chose simple clothes and a white cross, which later became eight-pointed as a symbol of the eight beatitudes, as a uniform.
By Bull Postulatio Voluntatis of February 5, 1113, Pope Paschal II (Pope Pascal II) approved their charter, with the exception of mentioning any military modes of operation.
This bull read:
" To Our Venerable Son Gerard, Founder and Director of the Hospital of Jerusalem (His Venerable Son Gerard, Founder and Director of the Hospital of Jerusalem) and all his legitimate followers and successors...,
You asked us that the Hospital which You founded in the city of Jerusalem, near the Church of St. John the Baptist, should be fortified by the authority of the Holy See and strengthened by the protection of the Apostle Saint Peter, .. .......
We accede to your requests with fatherly mercy, and we confirm by the authority of this existing decree, this House of God, this Hospital, is subject to the Apostolic Eye, and is protected by St. Peter.....,
that you are the actual administrator and director of this hospital, and we desire that, in the event of your death, no one may be placed at the head of it by subterfuge or intrigue, and that respected brethren may elect by the will of God.......,
we confirm forever, and for you and your heirs...
all advantages, privileges and property which it now possesses in Asia and Europe and which may be acquired in the future shall be exempt from any taxes."
In subsequent years, under the auspices of the Brotherhood, hospitals for pilgrims were founded in Europe, mainly in the port cities of Saint-Gilles (Saint-Gilles), Asti (Asti), Pisa (Pisa), Bari (Bari), Otranto (Otranto ), Taranto and Messina. In these hospitals, pilgrims could prepare for the pilgrimage, wait for the ship and prepare for the long and dangerous journey through the Mediterranean, and also rest after the pilgrimage before returning home.
Gerard died in 1120 and the date of his death is still recorded in the calendar of the Order of Malta.
But even before Gerard's death, a group of crusader knights, led by a certain Raymond du Puy, originally from Provence, joins the Brotherhood. (who later became the second head of the Hospital after Gerard)
It is not entirely known when the Brotherhood became involved in the function of military protection of the Holy Sepulcher (Holy Sepulcher) and to fight the infidels wherever they find it. Roughly believed to be between 1126 and 1140.
The first military task performed by the new knight brothers was the physical protection of the pilgrims marching from Jaffa (Jaffa) to Jerusalem (Jerusalem) from the bandits who constantly disturbed them. Very quickly, the task grew to the obligation to clear the neighborhood from robbers and, in general, from infidels.
From that time until the fall of Malta, the Masters or Grand Masters (since 1489) were both religious leaders (Religious Superiors) and military commanders of the knights (Military Commanders of the knights).
Thus, between 1126 and 1140, the Brotherhood became more and more a military-religious organization, although the functions of charity for the weak and sick pilgrims were preserved.
In the same period, the name of the organization "Brotherhood" (Brotherhood) is replaced by the "Order" ("Ordo" (Order)), as was already customary in the military-religious communities in Europe.
There is no exact information regarding the origin of the first Knights Hospitaller. It is quite obvious that the vast majority of them were French, because. the bulk of the Crusaders of the First Crusade were from France and Raymond de Puy was also French. However, most of the Order's hospitals in Europe were located in southern Italy, and most of the donations came from Spain. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that among the Knights Hospitaller there were many Italians and Spaniards.
In 1137, Pope Innocent II approved the rule according to which a brother who had previously entered the Order had no right to withdraw his vow on his own. This required the consent of all the other brothers.
Those who entered the order took the three usual monastic vows - celibacy, poverty and obedience.
Initially, no proof of one's noble birth was required to become a Knight Hospitaller. The very presence of expensive weapons, protective armor, a war horse already indicated nobility. Often, knights who were not part of the brotherhood were temporarily involved in the performance of military tasks. However, by 1206, the members of the Order were already divided into classes, the first of which belonged only to knights. The management staff could be elected only from among them. The second class belonged to the order priests, the so-called "serving brethren" (sergeants), employees of hospitals, to the third class were the attendants. The last class of monastic vows did not take. Knights and sergeants participated in the battle.
In addition to the brothers, a number of privileges and protection of the Order were also received by the so-called "brothers" (confratres) and "donors" (donati), i.e. those who helped the Order either by direct participation in hostilities or financially. This system was not in other Orders
The Order very quickly became a powerful military-monastic organization. Already in 1136, his military power prompted the King of Jerusalem to hand over to the Hospitallers the fortress of Bethgibelin, an important strategic point on the southern border, covering the port of Ashkalon. The Hospitallers fortified and expanded the fortress at their own expense.
How to explain the emergence and very rapid development of the military-monastic Orders at the beginning of the XII century, and the Order of the Hospitallers. in particular?
The thing is. that the monarchs and large feudal lords of that time were good warriors, often good military leaders, but not administrators at all. We can say that they were all just robbers in royal robes. They knew how to conquer territories and fortresses, to rob them too. But the XII century was the century of the formation of statehood. Social development demanded stable borders, laws, the stability of the country. And only military monastic Orders with their carefully developed statutes and members who learned to fulfill them, bound by a single goal, not having their own selfish interests, fastened by discipline and having in their hands a permanent trained and cohesive army could be and were in fact centers, the embryos of the emergence states.
This is what attracted to the Orders both kings, who saw their support in these organizations, and wealthy people who were looking for lasting protection from the arbitrariness of large feudal lords, and the Catholic Church, which saw in the Orders a means of strengthening the power of the papal throne.
The Hospitallers, being good administrators, attracted outstanding builders to work. physicians, architects, gunsmiths of that time, created a network of fortified points along the borders of the kingdom, organized a kind of border service, preventing Muslim troops from entering the country.
Between 1142 and 1144 the Hospitallers acquired five counties in the district of Tripoli, a sovereign principality in the north of the kingdom. In total, by this time, about 50 fortified castles were already in the hands of the Hospitallers. including such important fortresses Krak des Chevaliers ((Krak des Chevaliers (Crac)) and Margat (Margat). The ruins of these castles still rise on the dominant heights above the valleys, reminiscent of the times of the Crusades and the power of Christianity over these lands. 
The photo above shows the ruins of the order castle Krak des Chevaliers.
The photo on the right shows the ruins of the Margat order castle.
The Knights of the Order, realizing their power, were not very scrupulous with the church authorities. They simply ousted the abbey of Santa Maria Latino from the center of Jerusalem and occupied the buildings that previously belonged to the abbey.
The Hospitallers took an active part in the Second Crusade, introducing elements of order and organization into the ranks of the crusaders, which helped to win a number of victories. However, the campaign ended in failure.
In the rather long half-century period between the end of the Second Crusade (1148) and the beginning of the Third Crusade (1189), the history of North Africa is rich in events of struggle between Christians and Muslims. Everything was here - the ferocious cruelty of both, and the conclusion of alliances, and betrayal and successful assaults on cities, both on the one hand and on the other. In all these events, the Hospitallers take an active part. In 1177, the Hospitallers, together with the Templars, participate in the Battle of Ascalon and make a significant contribution to the victory of the Christians. The Muslims, led by Atabek Nuretdin, managed to organize a rebuff to the crusaders. In 1154, he captured Damascus and launched an offensive against the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
In 1187, Saladin invades the kingdom of Jerusalem and besieges Tiberias. He takes over the city.
Within a few weeks, all the fortresses of the kingdom fell. Then came the turn of Jerusalem itself and Tyre. By this time, the strife between the Templars and the Hospitallers, including military skirmishes and serious battles, led to the weakening of both Orders, mutual hostility and distrust. The real defense of Jerusalem was not organized and the city fell.
In 1189, the Third Crusade begins. By 1191, after a two-year siege, the crusaders managed to capture the fortress of Saint-Jean d'Acre (Acre).
July 15, 1199, i.e. at the very beginning of the Fourth Crusade, the crusaders manage to recapture Jerusalem.
In the first half - the middle of the XIII century, the Hospitallers were the main military force of the Christians in Palestine and held back the onslaught of the Muslims. They take part in the V, VI, VII Crusades. In 1244, at the end of the VI Crusade in the battle of Gaza, the Hospitallers suffer a serious defeat. The master and many knights are captured.
But in 1249, the Hospitallers take part in the VII Crusade. And again, failure - the loss of the battle of Mansur, during which the master and 25 top leaders of the Order are captured.
The crusaders are haunted by one setback after another. The Hospitallers become the rearguard of the last Crusades. They continue to hold their fortresses even when the other crusaders are already leaving Palestine.
They hold Krak des Chevaliers until 1271, Margat until 1285. When Jerusalem fell in 1187, the Hospitallers moved their residence to Acre (Saint Jacques d'Acre). But in 1291 the last stronghold of Christianity in Palestine had to be abandoned. The wounded master of the Order of St. John, who covered the evacuation of the townspeople and their boarding the ships, was the last to board the ship.
Thus ended the era of the Crusades, and with it the era of the heyday and greatness of military monastic orders. The orders had to look for their niche in the new historical conditions.
The Teutons will delay their fall by switching to the Christianization of the Baltics.
The Templars will never find their place in Europe and will be defeated in 1307 by the French king Francis the Handsome and Pope Clement V, who feared for their power.
The Hospitallers, having settled first on the island of Cyprus, and then moving to the island of Rhodes, will prolong their active existence by naval operations in the Mediterranean against pirates.
But more on that in Part 2.
Literature
1.Guy Stair Sainty.THE SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDER OF MALTA (Site www.chivalricorders.org/orders/smom/crusades.htm)
2.E.Lavvis, A.Rambaud. The era of the Crusades. Rusich. Smolensk. 2001
3. M. Tkach, N. Kakabidze. Secrets of knightly orders. Ripol Classic. Moscow. 2002
4. Myachin A.N. and others. One hundred great battles. VECHE. Moscow. 1998
The original center, from which the Hospitallers got their name - the hospital (Latin "hospitality") of St. John at the house of pilgrims in Jerusalem, created in the year by the Benedictine monk Gerard. The brotherhood's original purpose was to care for the indigent, sick, or injured pilgrims in the Holy Land. After the entry of the Roman Catholics into Jerusalem during the First Crusade, the order took shape as a religious-military order, and its charter was approved.
After being expelled from Jerusalem, the order settled in Rhodes. After his fall in the year the order moved to Malta and the Hospitallers became known also under the name Knights of the Order of Malta.
Current state
At the beginning of the 2010s, the possessions of the Hospitallers (about 2 sq. km) enjoy the right of extraterritoriality. According to international law, the Order is a state-like entity and has diplomatic relations at the level of ambassadors with about 50 countries, its own constitution, government, national anthem, citizenship, and even mints coins. The Order has considerable real estate: only in Italy it is estimated at 450 million dollars. The order also owns about 200 hospitals around the world. The Order unites major political and public figures, representatives of big business and the aristocracy.
Device
According to the Constitution, members of the Order are divided into three classes:
- members of the 1st class - knights of justice, recognized monastery chaplains - take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and are monks;
- members of the II class - knights of obedience and donates of justice - take a vow of obedience. They are obliged to comply with the instructions for the knights of obedience regarding the performance of prayers and duties in relation to the order and its members;
- members of the III class - do not take vows, but undertake to lead a Christian lifestyle and take an active part in the care of the sick and social work carried out by the order.
